


She Keeps Me Warm

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [26]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Comfort, F/F, Fear, Fluff, Skiing, Winter, so fucking fluffy i s2g
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 23:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4241490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"My love, my love, my love, she keeps me warm."</p><p>-Mary Lambert</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Keeps Me Warm

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the official halfway point of the "52 Weeks of Swan Queen" challenge. If you wanna check out my friend doing the challenge with me, she's doing Wolfstar (Sirius/Remus from Harry Potter) and her pseud is blanketed_in_stars. Her work is amazing!!

“Are you ready?” Regina turns to face Emma, an expectant smile on her face.

Emma shifts her weight between her feet. “Do we really have to ride that thing?”

“Unless you want to walk all the way up the mountain in your skis.”

“Can we?”

“Emma.” Regina’s voice is firm, yet somehow gentle. “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

Emma’s eyes are wide, but when she turns to look at her girlfriend she feels her shoulders broaden of their own accord. “And you’re riding with me, right?”

“Of course.” Regina takes Emma’s hand. “Come on, let’s go.” They move to the line for the chairlift, Emma’s heart pounding the entire time they’re waiting. By the time it’s their turn she’s almost ready to turn back.

“Maybe we should get some pizza first. Are you hungry? I’m hungry.”

“ _Emma_.” Regina’s grip tightens on Emma’s hand as they walk forward. “Just relax.”

The first contact of the seat robs Emma of her breath, and she finds herself gripping the bars of the lift with white knuckles. She hates the feeling of being suspended, no ground beneath her feet, swinging unrestrained a too-high number of feet above the ground. A pale hand that may or may not be hers squeezes harder on Regina’s.

Her grip loosens as they move higher. After the initial increase in height, Emma finds herself calming down and even glancing around at the scenery. The mountains really are beautiful in the winter, covered in snow and pine trees that never lose their color. She turns to face Regina. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

Regina simply nods stiffly. Emma takes in her hand tightly gripping the bar and face drained of color. “You okay?” she asks.

“I didn’t realize it would be this high.” Regina turns her head to meet Emma’s eyes, her own dancing with nerves. “Why aren’t you terrified? You didn’t even want to get on.”

Emma shrugs. “I think I built it up so much in my head that the real thing just didn’t seem as bad.”

It’s subtle, but there’s a slight inclination of Regina’s head that Emma chooses to interpret as a nod of agreement. “I suppose it was the opposite for me. I thought it would be nothing, and then when it wasn’t…” a slight shiver runs up her spine and Emma pulls her into her own arms.

“You’ve never been skiing before, have you?” Emma murmurs.

“I’ve never even left Storybrooke except for Henry’s adoption.”

“You still wanna go?”

“Not particularly.” Regina leans her head on Emma’s shoulder. “But you were excited. I don’t want to keep you from going.”

Emma presses a gentle kiss to Regina’s temple, relishing in the comforting warmth of her girlfriend in her arms. “I’ve gone skiing before. I’ll go skiing again. Let’s ride the lift back down.”

“Are you sure?”

“I hear the warming house has some pretty good pizza.”

Regina smiles. “Thank you.”

The lift is approaching the unloading station, and Emma leans forward to wave at the operator. “Okay if we ride this back down?” she calls.

“Change your mind?” the operator hollers back.

“It’s a bit high for us.”

“I’ll let the people at the bottom know.”

“Thank you.” Emma smiles and tucks Regina closer still. The lift circles around the station and begins its descent, drawing a sharp intake of breath from Regina. “You know I’m not gonna let you fall, right?” Emma murmurs. “I’ve got you. Right here. You’re okay.”

Regina burrows even further into Emma’s arms with a contented sigh. “I love you,” she whispers into the thick coat in her face.

“I love you, too.”

It’s a long ride to the bottom of the mountain. The wind is sharp and cold and it rocks the lift just enough to make Regina hold tightly to Emma. Even still, the two of them are safe and warm in each other’s love the entire ride to the ground. Winter can’t touch them and heights can’t hurt them when they’re holding each other like they are.

Regina’s legs are trembling when they get off the lift at the bottom. She would have fallen back into the seat and gone all the way back up again if Emma hadn’t scooped her into her arms and carried her off to the side like she’d done it a million times. “Need some help with your skis?” she asks as she sets Regina back on her feet.

“I’ve got it.”

They both feel a lot better once their skis are off and they can walk normally again. “Warming house is this way,” Emma says, wrapping one arm around Regina’s shoulders and using the other to point in the direction of the building. “So, next vacation is gonna be to the beach, right?”

Regina laughs out loud. “Perhaps that would be best.”

They both trip slightly as Emma pulls Regina closer to whisper in her ear. “Bikinis are much sexier than winter coats anyway.”

“ _Emma_.” Regina shoves her playfully, and when Emma bounces back their lips fall together and the world around them melts away in their embrace. “I love you,” Regina murmurs into the kiss. “I love you. I love you.”

Emma doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of hearing those words from those lips. “I love you, too.” And they stand there, arms around each other, snow swirling in the wind around them, lips moving together in a symphony they write as they perform it. Neither of them are thinking about the terrifying chairlift ride. The only thoughts in their heads are of each other and an unwritten future together.

And all thoughts of the warming house are long forgotten.


End file.
